A scrutiny of existing literature suggests that traditional rural retailers are important for the success of rural marketing efforts in developing nations. The present study attempts to decipher the indications on the factors that could possibly influence purchase preferences of rural traditional retailers through the use of statistical methods of content analysis. The purpose of the study is to identify the factors that influence purchase preference, analyse the temporal movement of conceptualizations of these factors, and determine whether academic thought on this topic has a conceptual core.

This research work presents a longitudinal analysis of the factors over a period of 40 years: the need for information and training on new products and their selling techniques seem to maintain the same significance throughout the study period; the need for discounts has maintained almost a uniform ranking over the period of study; there is also a relative stability in the need for regular/frequent service; doorstep delivery had the highest ranking in the first period, which is probably owing to the relative weakness of delivery systems during the early phase of rural marketing; the requirement for credit seems to increase from the first period to the second period and then decrease. The factor of margins and commissions seems highly ranked only in the second period.

Dimension reduction technique and frequency tabulations are the methods used for content analysis. The core concepts indicate that a traditional rural retailer can possibly be persuaded to purchase high-demand products and brands, through the provision of credit, discounts, quantity discount schemes, margins and commissions, by using local distributors and by appointment of local company staff to provide regular service. The analysis has yielded two discernible conceptual clusters: high-demand products and brands and credit; and doorstep delivery and regular service. The clusters that emerge during the content analysis of traditional rural retailers’ purchase preference factors reflect the exact content from conclusions in at least one research paper that is not used (to prevent cyclic conclusions) during the content-analysis process. The result confirms that researchers have been moving on similar lines in their conceptualizations of the purchase preference factors of traditional rural retailers.